


Come Close (And Then Even Closer)

by sheryl_sems



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bellamy Blake & Clarke Griffin are Best Friends, Bellamy takes care of Clarke!, Bellarke, Fluff and Angst, Lots of Bellarke feels, Lots of Blake Sibling feels, Modern Setting Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin, Octavia Blake and Clarke Griffin are Roommates, bellarke AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-13
Updated: 2017-06-13
Packaged: 2018-11-13 15:55:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11188443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sheryl_sems/pseuds/sheryl_sems
Summary: Clarke thinks about Octavia and how her best friend had stormed out of the house earlier that day, furious at Clarke for taking her brother's side in their argument. She thinks about Raven, and Monty, and Jasper, and Wells, and Lincoln but in the end, she really only wants one person by her side and it's fruitless to fight herself on this one."Could you call Bellamy?" She finally says in a soft, hoarse whisper.~Or the one where Clarke is attacked and the only person she wants by her side in the aftermath is Bellamy Blake.





	Come Close (And Then Even Closer)

**Author's Note:**

> Basically a one-shot with loads of sappy, sweet (with a bit of angst) Bellarke. I also love the idea of Octavia and Clarke being best friends and the three of them having a kind of broken but complete family amongst themselves. So this is just a lot of thoughts and feels thrown into one fic!! Hit kudos/comments if you think it's worth it! xx

Clarke looks up when Officer Kane kneels down and places a comforting hand on her shoulder.   
  
  
"Who should I call?" He asks kindly.   
  
  
Clarke thinks about Octavia and how her best friend had stormed out of the house earlier that day, furious at Clarke for taking her brother's side in their argument. She thinks about Raven but doesn't want to bother her on her first day off in months. She thinks about Monty, and Jasper, and Wells, and Lincoln but in the end, she really only wants one person by her side and it's fruitless to fight herself on this one.  
  
  
"Could you call Bellamy?" She finally says in a soft, hoarse whisper.  
  
  
"Of course." Kane responds, pulling the edges of the orange blanket closer around Clarke's shoulders before standing up to make the call. Clarke waits, all her attention on her hands fidgeting together. She barely registers the police officers moving around her apartment, bagging things and taking pictures, and the paramedics, taking the body away on a stretcher under a white sheet.   
  
  
When Bellamy finally arrives, only Kane and Miller remain in the room. Miller is seated beside her on the sofa, a foot's distance between them, and Kane is seated on the armchair typing away on his phone. The three of them look up when the front door is pushed open. Bellamy enters in his police uniform, navy half-sleeved shirt and matching slacks with the usual police badges pinned to the shirt. His eyes flick between Miller and Kane before falling on Clarke.   
  
  
"You'll be okay?" Kane asks, standing up. Bellamy nods without looking away from Clarke and Kane claps a hand to Bellamy's shoulder before leaving. Miller stands up and squeezes Clarke's shoulder before nodding at Bellamy and leaving too.   
  
  
Clarke stares at Bellamy as he walks towards her and her shoulders finally slump, the fight leaving her body. She presses her lips tightly together as her eyes well up and Bellamy is in front of her in a second, seated on the coffee table with their knees pressed up together.   
  
  
"I didn't want to kill him." She whispers, a sob ripping through her lips. Bellamy nods and holds the side of her face with one hand and grasps her fidgeting, trembling hands with the other. "I didn't have a choice."  
  
  
"I know you didn't, Clarke." He says, leaning forward and pressing his forehead against hers. "Who you are and who you need to be to survive are very different things."  
  
  
Tears slip down her cheeks and she closes her eyes, pressing herself closer to the boy who has grown to be her best friend. "I was so scared, Bell."  
  
  
"I know." He says softly and shifts so that he's sitting beside her and underneath her all at once. Her legs are across his lap and she's pressed into his side with his arms wrapped around her and she's breathing heavily into his collarbone. "I'm sorry you had to go through that." She nods and reaches out to find one of his hands and holds on tightly.   
  
  
"I didn't know who else to call." She admits quietly, once she calms down just enough.  
  
  
"You can always call me." He responds. "I was almost through with my shift and Kane told me he'd cover for me."   
  
  
"He sounded so worried when I called him." She says, vividly remembering the way her fingers had shaken so much that dialling Kane's number had taken a whole minute. She remembers stuttering out how someone had broken into her house and when they realised she was still inside, how they had attacked her. How she had fought back and his body was lying on her kitchen floor. She remembers how Kane had barked out orders while asking her questions and talking to her to the entire ride to her house so that she knew she wasn't alone. She remembers the way he had broken his usual professional stature by putting his arms around her and hugging her close the second he saw her.   
  
  
"He loves you like a daughter." Bellamy says. "You're family. We all are. When he called me, I-" He turns his head and presses his nose against her hair and breathes in and out three times before continuing, "-I was so worried for you. I'm so glad you're okay."  
  
  
"I don't know if I am." She chokes out and he holds her just a little tighter. "I can't… I don't know how to-" Tears slip down her cheeks again and she presses her face into his chest.   
  
  
"It's okay." He says. He presses his lips against her hair. "It's going to be okay. I've got you." She releases a sob and burrows closer to him and they sit like this, together, for the next hour until her eyelids grow heavy and her body gives way to exhaustion.   
  
  
"I think you should go to bed, Clarke." Bellamy says softly. "I can call into the school in the morning and let them know that you won't be coming in for work."  
  
  
Clarke wants to argue that she'll be fine to work but her bones ache and her eyes are burning again and her heart races at the very thought of leaving her apartment so she nods mutely. He stands up and puts his arm around her back and she leans heavily on him as they walk to her room. He waits patiently with his back to her as she changes into her pyjamas, a pink and white striped set, and waits at the bathroom doorway while she brushes her teeth and washes her face. When she's done, he lifts her duvet up while she slides into bed and then places it over her.   
  
  
"You're such a mother-hen." She mumbles, moving towards the other side of her queen-sized.   
  
  
He releases a short laugh before switching on her lamp. "Do you need anything else?" Clarke stares at him for a few moments and he looks back at her, patiently, while she struggles to find the words she wants to say.  
  
  
"Could- could you stay with me tonight?" She finally says and her eyes well up with tears and she presses her mouth against the duvet bunched up in her fist to stop the sob bubbling at her throat.   
  
  
"Yeah. Yeah, of course." He says. "Let me just get the lights and lock up." Her heart begins racing at the thought of being alone again and her fingers tighten around the duvet as her body screams at her to reach out and grab his arm before he leaves. He watches her eyes dart around and her knuckles growing white and immediately reaches over to grasp her shoulder lightly. "I'll be right back, I promise. I'll be real quick, okay?" He waits like this, hand on her shoulder and knee pressed into the mattress, until she uncurls her fists and begins to breathe deeply to slow her heart down. She finally manages to nod and he squeezes her shoulder softly before leaving the room. His pace brisk, he switches off the lights in the kitchen and living room and turns all the locks on the main door before returning to Clarke, who is lying exactly as he left her.   
  
  
"I'm just going to brush my teeth and return, okay?" She nods and watches him walk into her en-suite. He leaves the door open so that she can still see him and reaches into the mug she uses as her toothbrush holder and picks out his spare toothbrush. After Octavia had moved in with Clarke, Bellamy had sometimes slept over at their house so that he could spend evenings with his sister after a long day of work. Two weeks ago, Octavia had been using her own bathroom to dye her hair and had tossed his toothbrush out onto her bed and told him to use Clarke's bathroom instead. He had left it in her mug afterwards. Ever since the siblings had argued six days ago, Octavia had asked Bellamy to leave and his toothbrush remained in Clarke's bathroom. Even after Octavia had informed Clarke that he was not allowed to step foot in their apartment again, she left it there.   
  
  
Clarke relaxes her grip on the duvet completely as Bellamy slides under the covers beside her and turns towards her.   
  
  
"Have you messaged Octavia?" He asks. She turns on her side to face him.  
  
  
"No," She says softly, sadly. "She's angry with me."  
  
  
"What? Why?" He asks, the corners of his lips tilting downwards.  
  
  
"I told her she should talk to you. That I knew you made a mistake but she should just listen to what you have to say, give you a chance to at least apologise instead of cutting you out completely." Clarke responds. "I told her that y _ou_ saw the trail of damage left behind from your mother marrying a man she had known for four months and so you acted on that. You did what you thought was right and it might not have been a good decision, but you did it to protect her. And I know that you trust Lincoln and that you can see them being together for a very long time but you were just scared and acted impulsively, telling Lincoln to break it off. You made a mistake but she should know where it came from. She should know that you acted the way you did because of the things you've seen happen to your mother. Things that you protected from her then and tried to protect her from again."  
  
  
Bellamy's silent for a few moments and then he swallows and ducks his head. "What did she say to that?"  
  
  
"She got angry." Clarke shrugs a shoulder, sadness etched into her features. "Which is understandable. But she left, said she was going to spend the night at Monty and Jasper's, and not to call her."  
  
  
"She would still want to know, Clarke. She still cares about you, you know that, right?" Bellamy says, raising his eyes to meet hers again. "She would want to know what happened. That it happened, and that you're okay."  
  
  
Tears rise to Clarke's eyes again. "I didn't know how to tell her. She was so angry."  
  
  
"She loves you." Bellamy says. "She loves you more than anything. A fight with me doesn't change that."  
  
  
Clarke shrugs and pulls the duvet closer around her. "Maybe… I just don't want to bother her."  
  
  
Bellamy reaches out and tucks a few loose strands of her hair behind her ear, leaving his fingers lingering there. "You're never a bother, Clarke. You have to know that."  
  
  
She takes a deep breath as tears slip down her face and hit her pillow. "Thanks, Bellamy."  
  
  
"Thank you for standing up for me with Octavia. You didn't have to do that." He moves his hand to rest between them on the mattress.   
  
  
"I did." Clarke says. "You made a mistake and it was a big one, but you realised that you did. I know what it's like to fight with the only remaining member of your family and it takes everything out of you. It's not worth it, not if it can be fixed. And you _wanted_ to fix it- and she wasn't listening. Octavia's amazing but sometimes she's too stubborn for her own good."  
  
  
"There was this one time, when she was little, she- she got attacked outside our house and I remember I was stuck to her side for the whole week after. I don't think she remembers that but after that day, I swore to always protect her. To never let anything bad touch her again. My sister, my responsibility. Maybe this time I went too far in trying to protect her." Bellamy says.   
  
  
"You made a mistake, Bellamy. Everyone makes mistakes. You're trying to fix it and she'll come around. She'll come around and see how special you are. Scratch that, she already knows- she just needs a bit of reminding." He reaches out and takes her hand and she laces their fingers together wordlessly.   
  
  
"Thanks, Clarke." He says softly, squeezing her hand.  
  
  
"You're the one staying here taking care of me when you could be in your own apartment getting some well-deserved rest after a long day at work." Clarke says.  
  
  
"Yeah, but I'd much rather be here with you. I would always choose you." He says and the sincerity in his voice makes her want to cry all over again so she shifts closer to him until their foreheads are almost touching and he raises his head to press a kiss into her hair. They settle down close together, hands still linked, and exchange soft goodnights. She's awake for another five minutes and he's awake for longer, ready to squeeze her hand or whisper that she's safe every time the wind howls or there's a noise from outside the apartment that makes her jump or fidget. He switches off the lamp once she's fast asleep and allows himself a moment extra to trace the contours of her face in the moonlight before letting his eyes fall shut too.  
  
  
+++    
  
  
Clarke wakes up to whispers. She keeps her eyes closed as the voices become clearer and she realises with a stab of anxiety that it's Octavia and Bellamy.   
  
  
"Miller texted Monty this morning saying that she probably wouldn't come into work and to tell the head of staff and then Monty asked what happened and- and- I just- why didn't she tell me?" Octavia is saying, and her voice breaks on the last sentence.   
  
  
"She said you were angry and told her not to call-"  
  
  
"I didn't mean- oh god." Octavia's voice breaks and Clarke opens her eyes to see the other girl standing by the bed. She's dressed in jeans and a black t-shirt and her bomber jacket is inside-out and there are fresh tears in her slightly red eyes.   
  
  
"Hey." Clarke says softly. Her voice comes out hoarse so she clears it. Bellamy is sitting up slightly against the head-board, his eyes looking heavy and his hair tousled. She glances at her wall clock and it reads six o'clock so Octavia has probably rushed over from Monty's the second she heard the news.   
  
  
"Clarke, I'm _so_ sorry." Octavia says, sitting down slowly- hesitatingly- onto the bed by Bellamy's legs. "I'm so sorry."  
  
  
Clarke shakes her head before pulling the duvet closer around her shoulders. "It's okay."  
  
  
"No, it's not." Octavia says, beginning to crack her knuckles. Clarke and Bellamy both recognise this as her nervous, frightened tick. "I shouldn't have got so angry that I went far enough to tell you not to contact me. No matter what happens, that shouldn't be something I say. I'm sorry you felt like you couldn't talk to me after- after what happened." Tears slip down her cheeks and Clarke reaches out for her across Bellamy and Octavia grabs her hand. "I'm really sorry. I'm sorry I got so angry at something that wasn't your fault, and I'm sorry I got angry enough that I left, and I'm sorry you went through yesterday and I wasn't there for you."  
  
  
Clarke nods and then looks at Bellamy. "I didn't do it alone." He looks back at her, his features softening and she reaches her other hand out and he grasps it.   
  
  
"When I was twelve, a man attacked me in the street outside our house." Bellamy's eyes snap up to look at Octavia, his mouth parting slightly in surprise. "Bell saved me and then he spent the whole night taking care of me. Spent the next few days constantly by my side." Octavia said softly, her eyes cast down. Bellamy looks at Clarke, almost to check that he's not imagining the words coming out of his sister's mouth and Clarke smiles softly in reassurance that he's not. Bellamy swallows hard and looks back at Octavia. "I remember that I was so scared and I can't imagine how it would have been to go through that alone. I also can't imagine what you went through yesterday but-" She lifts her head to look at Clarke again, "I'm glad Bell was here for you. I know first-hand how much of a difference his love and care makes." She looks at her brother. "I'm sorry."  
  
  
Bellamy's eyes widen and he sits up a little straighter. "You don't need to apologise," He says.  
  
  
"Yes, I do." Octavia says and then laughs weakly. "What is with both of you refusing to let me own up to my mistakes and apologise? I wasn't fair to either of you and I'm sorry. I wish I had been there for you yesterday, Clarke, and I wish I had allowed you to explain, Bell. And I know I can't make up for it but I'm here now. If you will have me."  
  
  
"You're so dramatic, O." Bellamy teases, but his voice is a bit choked up and his expression is a mixture of relief and undeniable fondness. And Clarke's breath catches when he looks at her with the same fondness.   
  
  
Octavia smiles and swipes at her eyes before toeing her shoes off and climbing into the bed behind Clarke, forcing her to shift closer into Bellamy. He stretches his arm out and without any hesitance, she rolls herself flush into his side and Octavia folds herself tightly and warmly around Clarke's other side, Bellamy's arm under both of them.   
  
  
"I love you both." Octavia whispers. Bellamy reaches across Clarke to grasp his sister's hand and they rest their connected hands on Clarke's stomach.  
  
  
Clarke lies there between two of the people she loves the most, whose names and presences have become synonymous to home. When Octavia makes a comment about Kane's 'Dad-Mode' being activated, she soaks in every moment of feeling Octavia's body shaking with laughter on one side and Bellamy on her other, his warm breath against her face as he breathes out a laugh. She decides in that moment that there's nothing in the world that could tear her down as long as she had Octavia and Bellamy Blake by her side. 


End file.
